Richard B. Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States, 2001-2009. He was elected as a Republican in 2000 with President George W. Bush. Cheney was re-elected along with President Bush in 2004.

Though somewhat conservative in his early days as a congressman, Cheney subsequently reaped tens of millions of dollars from a multinational corporation associated with a policy of foreign interventionalism by the United States. Cheney then became an aggressive cheerleader for the neocon agenda of foreign wars and even the NSA domestic spying program. With his neocon positions, Cheney's approval rating hovered at about only 15% as Vice President.

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Life and Family

Richard 'Dick' Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. After dropping out of Yale College, he took a BA and an MA in Political Science from the University of Wyoming. He was twice arrested for DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) in his early 20's. He did graduate work in political science at the University of Wisconsin, where in 1964 he met Lynne Cheney, who was finishing her Ph.D. in literature. They have two daughters; Elizabeth and Mary.

Gay Marriage

During the 2004 Presidential Race it entered the public sphere that his daughter Mary and her lesbian partner were having a child. After leaving office as vice president he announced that he was in favor of gay marriage though he believes it should be decided on a state-by-state basis. He summed up his point of view by saying, "With respect to the question of relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everybody."[1]

Political career

Cheney assumed his first political post as an assistant to Wisconsin Governor Warren P. Knowles in the early 1960s, at the age of 28 when he became an intern near the beginning of the Nixon Administration. He quickly came to the attention of Donald Rumsfeld, then directing the Office of Economic Opportunity, and was promoted to a paid position in 1971. When Watergate forced Nixon's resignation in 1973, Cheney became vice president of an investment firm for a year, but Rumsfeld convinced Gerald Ford upon the latter's accession to the presidency that Cheney was indispensable, and he was recalled to public service. Eventually Cheney replaced Rumsfeld as Chief of Staff to Ford as Rumsfeld was promoted to Secretary of Defense. In 1978-88, Cheney served in Congress from Wyoming, becoming the Republican Whip (the #2 job).

Cheney served as Secretary of Defense for President George H. W. Bush in the late 1980s. In the 1990s Cheney worked for the big oil-supply company Halliburton, becoming CEO in 1995. After he left the company with a retirement package of $33 million (which went into a blind trust which Cheney does not control), leftist critics alleged that he twisted American foreign policy for the benefit of Halliburton. There is little or no evidence to backup such claims, however.

Hunter

On February 11, 2006, Mr. Cheney accidentally[2] shot a hunting partner, Mr. Harry Whittington, in the face with birdshot while the pair were hunting Quail in Corpus Christi, Texas. Mr. Whittington suffered a minor heart attack due to the incident,[3] and Cheney accepted full responsibility for the incident.[4] The incident was, according to all involved, an accident.[5]

Health Issues

A survivor of several heart attacks, Cheney's health was too precarious to run for president. In March 2007 he had surgery to remove a blood clot in his leg, the result of extended periods of sitting while airborne.

Political positions

On June 1, 2009, Cheney spoke out in favor of gay marriage at the National Press Club.[6]

Memoirs

In August 2011 Cheney released a book entitled In My Time about his experiences as vice president of the United States. In it he discusses a range of sensitive topics such as keeping a drafted letter of resignation in a safe in case he were to ever suffer debilitating health complications.

Quotes

"It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you." [7]

Further reading

Hayes, Stephen F. Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President (2007) by a conservative journalist. excerpt and text search